Claire Holba is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Niskanen Center, where she focuses on the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and humanitarian policy. She works on advancing community-driven immigration models, strengthening state and local capacity for refugee reception and integration, and aligning economic priorities with humanitarian protection.

Holba also contributes to global policy discussions on complementary pathways for displaced populations through the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative and serves on the steering committee of the International Refugee Integration and Settlement Exchange.

Prior to joining Niskanen, Holba conducted research and led human rights initiatives with refugee communities in South and Southeast Asia. Her work focused on education access and support for civil society organizations documenting human rights conditions. She also founded and directed one of the first private refugee sponsorship organizations in the United States.

Holba earned a master’s degree in refugee and forced migration studies from DePaul University. She is an alumna of the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship program, which supports U.S. economic competitiveness and national security, and completed intensive study in Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan.